Johnny`s Story - Marin Cancer Care

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Johnny’s Story
When Johnny Kniesche arrived home from winter break 2004
complaining of feeling sore and tired, Skip and Nancy Kniesche
thought their 19 year old athletic son had probably banged himself
up playing basketball with his buddies. Still, they took him to see
Dr. Ray Bonneau, a Marin orthopedic specialist and family friend.
Dr. Bonneau ordered a diagnostic scan and promised to call with
the results.
The phone rang on December 26th. Dr. Bonneau said, “We think
he has non-hodgkins lymphoma.”
The aggressive blood cancer had spread throughout his bones.
“Take Johnny to Jennifer Lucas at Marin Cancer Institute,”
Dr. Bonneau told them. “It’s one of the best cancer centers in
the country.”
From the moment they met Dr. Lucas, the Kniesches felt reassured,
says Nancy. “She bonded with Johnny over basketball, and every
time we visited it felt like family.”
Grueling chemo treatments beat back the lymphoma and
eventually, Johnny was able to go back to school at Michigan.
But after two years, he relapsed. He was transferred to UCSF to
undergo a bone marrow transplant.
“Even though we were no longer on the books of Marin Cancer
Institute it felt like we never left,” Nancy says. “Dr. Lucas always
stayed in touch with his UCSF doctors. If Johnny needed
something she arranged for him to have it in Marin. At Michigan,
she helped find good doctors to support him. And if the family
had questions or concerns, she was there for us.”
But Johnny relapsed again, so fragile that he dropped out of
school. Then the leukemia roared back with a vengeance. Doctors
told the family to prepare for the worst. Nancy took leave from
work to devote the next six months to taking Johnny wherever he
wanted to go. Johnny’s brothers, Ted and Mark, and their wives,
Kali and Julia, began to spend as much time as possible with him;
the family became closer than ever.
“I’ve never met someone with more courage than Johnny, and
the ability to stay upbeat in the face of adversity,” says Dr. Lucas.
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A miracle arrived in the form of a cancer drug, asparigenase,
prescribed in a last ditch effort to turn the tide. At first, it made
him feel even worse—if that were possible—with months of
nausea, weight loss, numbness and other side effects. “We just
kept moving,” says Nancy, “and then he got better, to everyone’s
amazement. He started getting stronger and looking ahead.”
benefiting
marin cancer insTiTuTe
aT marin GeneraL HospiTaL
Nancy and Skip Kniesche, Chairs
After completing his final semester at Michigan long distance, the
whole family accompanied him to graduation; Obama delivered
the address. He settled on UCLA for graduate school. He
finished his first semester, and came home with a very bad cold
or pneumonia, depleted physically and emotionally. Nancy drove
back to UCLA with him after the break, to help him get back on
his feet. After arriving, he told her he had lost confidence; he just
didn’t think he could stay.
“He’d been through too much to quit now,” Nancy says. She
suggested he call Dr. Lucas for advice. “I knew Jen would have a
plan—Jen always had a plan.”
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Dr. Lucas answered with the sounds of her small children in the
background. She instantly understood how important this call
must be and listened as Johnny told her he was ready to give up
on UCLA. “I want to come home,” he said.
“What will you do if you go home?” Dr. Lucas asked. “You need a
plan. Let’s just get you through the next month there, and then
let’s talk again.”
“We owe so much to the Cancer Center and Dr. Lucas,” says
Nancy. “They were always by our side, through thick and thin.
Before this happened, we had no clue how incredibly lucky we are
to have this world class center right here in Marin. We will always
be grateful for the extraordinary care and caring we received.”
Note: Skip and Nancy Kniesche are co-chairing the Marin
General Hospital Foundation gala, Bombay Dreamy, to be
held on Saturday, May 16, 2015, benefiting Marin Cancer
Institute (MCI). For more information or to register go to
maringeneral.org/events
The Kniesche Family
Barbara McCullough
Chris and Bob Feibusch
Dennis and Susan Gilardi
Bob and Connie Peirce
Carolie (Kiki) Pescatello
Nancy and Richard Robbins
Stephanie and Mark Robinson
Sue and Michael Schwartz
The Schultz Foundation
Anonymous
Sharon Early - in memory of John Early
and H.J. (Bill) Haynes
Frank M. Ewing Foundation, Inc.
Herbst Foundation
Kentfield Hospital
Betsy and Ed McDermott
Honey and Jed Nachman
Darice and Jeffrey O’Neill
Joe and Heidi Shekou
John and Pamela Larson
Sally Buehler
John and Pat Cahill
Janell and Joe Ciatti
Joanne Dunn
Corinne Hedrick and Jim Bruner
Jeff and Phyllis Koblick
KC and Steve Lauck
Marin Gastroenterology
Derek and Nancy Parker
Maria Pitcairn
Tucky and John Pogue
Henry Timnick
Cathie and Chris Warner
Douglas and Nancy Wolcott
Polly and Ward Wolff
Joe and Pat Abrams
Lydia and Tony Cameron
Jeri Dexter
Marianne and Albert Figen Foundation
Gerlach, Kaufman & Otter Families
Hospice by the Bay
Jon and Hope Kragh
Tom and Marie Lyons
Marin Sanitary Service
Moresco Distributing Company
Mt. Tam Orthopedics & Spine Center
Kathryn Niggeman
David and Marcia Sperling
Brian & June Strunk
Young’s Market Company
Dennis Whipp
The Honorable Roy Wonder &
Barbara Ward Wonder
Fran Zone
Something just clicked. “Jen was like a sister to Johnny,” Nancy
says. “That call turned him around.” He gritted his teeth, earned
his Masters and met Kelsey, the woman he married last year in a
joyous ceremony attended, of course, by Dr. Lucas.
Doctors recently delivered good news; his platelets are in the
normal range for the first time since his diagnosis. “His immune
system is ready to fight again,” says Nancy. “He’ll always carry
some scars from this, but we are all focused on the future now.”
*As of February 26, 2015
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Bombay
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Long-time Giants fans, they didn’t miss a game when the team
made the playoffs and then the World Series in Texas. Even
desperately ill, Johnny and his parents sat in the stands and
cheered the team on to its 2010 championship. “No matter how
bad he felt, he always managed to make others feel okay,” says
Skip. The whole family attended the Masters, another item on
Johnny’s wish list. And they learned to let go; he flew alone to
visit friends in Michigan where a physician met him on a Sunday
morning for a transfusion.